Wednesday, December 12, 2012

After many weeks of neglect while I toiled away on Nutcracker costumes my garden still rewarded me!

I ventured out last week and was happily surprised by tiny cabbages...

big and little broccoli...

and some gorgeous cauliflower!!!!!!!

I waited until Saturday when we could all be together and out we went for our first winter harvest.

It is kind of fun to see that all the little green things we eat on broccoli are actually flower buds!

As you can see from the photos, the garden needs a bit lot of work...the weeds are also doing well - but I was quite the proud gardener when I served roasted cauliflower from my own little garden patch on Sunday!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

In our house over the past 4 or 5 years Thanksgiving and The Nutcracker are all rolled into one...production for Nutcracker has been going on for over a month and the show is the week after Thanksgiving.

Luckily we have Thanksgiving dinner at Papa's house...because our house is filled with costumes, yards of tulle, lots of glitter, stray rat heads (for the show of course, we got rid of the real ones last year!) and many other odds and ends.

We have been at the studio for hours and hours, rehearsing, fitting costumes, creating angel skirts, organizing baby mice costumes, fluffing up tutus....so much to be done so our dancers look their best.

Here is our costume room - and this is only about one third of the costumes!

There are baskets being prepared for auction at the Nutcracker Sweet Shoppe - themed of course for the dances of the show!

But, amidst all of this, with the girlies help we were able to do our part of the Thanksgiving feast. As is our tradition everyone brings a little something, so we didn't have too much to do...

apples to go in with the yams. Madison made them this year layering canned yams, chopped apples, butter and brown sugar. After that is cooked for about 45 minutes at 350 then of course the mini marshmallows go on top for a bit of toasting and Voila! the best yams ever!

Lane made 'Stacy' rolls for all of us to enjoy...

a wonderful recipe that we can never get enough of!

Papa and Willie stood by cheering us on!

One mishap this year - no pecan pie! We planned on using the pecans from our tree, but, even after drying them in the oven they were too wet - too much rain lately I guess. Maybe we will make pecan pie after Nutcracker!

Family getting together is just so wonderful...that's what it's all about (well besides the Hokey Pokey that is!)

Thanks to Apple we were even able to see the faces of the family that was celebrating in Texas!

We got out my mom's fancy peach blossom dishes and set the table in an entirely non-traditional way!

Pretty, don't you think?

So even with visions of Sugar Plums and Nutcrackers in our heads we had a very special Thanksgiving.

I hope that all of yours were filled with yummy food, friends, family and lots of love just like ours was!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Since we have been enjoying the Summer garden so much...we decided to plant a Fall garden! This is my first experience planting at this time of year....

and things seem to be going very well. We put in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, swiss chard, brussel sprouts, celery and onions. The celery and onions are on their way out - I planted them right where the dog loves to cut across the garden....I don't think they are going to make it.

Our watering system is a gift from my neighbor Jessie. When she was alive she taught me how to shape the beds so that you just lay the hose down in one spot and the entire vegetable bed fills up! When the plants are small they also need to be watered from the top, but once they establish their roots they get all they need from filling the little canals. Jessie used to come over and tell me that it was time to work in the yard! I would take little Madison and Lane and out we would go to the vegetable garden (or where ever in the yard Jessie thought we should work!) Lane would hold onto my skirt, Madison would grab a kid sized garden tool and we would dig and weed and water. Jessie in her eighties could work circles around me! What wonderful memories this new garden is bringing back to me!

The garden has grown even more since I took these pics...the broccoli is past my knees! The tomatoes have taken over their portion of the garden....and yesterday I actually saw a red tomato!

Once you start planting all of these wonderful things the space seems very small...next year I may have to take over more of the yard! Our plans to get the whole backyard under control are progressing and I look forward to sharing our new outdoor space with you sometime in the Spring!